Ryan Blaney wins inaugural Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway

A fantastic Father’s Day gift for Dave Blaney! Ryan Blaney gets the job done at Iowa Speedway for the first time ever. The defending NASCAR champion gets his first win of the 2024 season.

Ryan Blaney was calm, cool, and collected all day. This was not an easy race for him to win. The tires were a real issue. Drivers had to be careful to not overdrive on their rubber or they would have blowouts.

The first-ever Cup Series winner at Iowa Speedway. A big win for Blaney and this 12 team after the Gateway letdown.

REPOST TO CONGRATULATE RYAN BLANEY!

HE'S THE FIRST NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNER AT IOWA SPEEDWAY. pic.twitter.com/ROXvtqmqcy

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 17, 2024

Why did the Cup Series not come to Iowa Speedway sooner? Seriously. This race track put on a fun race with only a partial repave! The tires were soft but there was no catastrophic failure. It wasn’t even close to a Bristol level of wear from earlier this year.

Ryan Blaney led 201 laps on his way to victory. Blaney now has a win at Iowa in the Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and Cup Series. He is the only driver to reach that accomplishment since this is the inaugural Cup race at Iowa.

This was a race that ignited a lot of tempers.

Ryan Blaney takes Stage 1 at Iowa

In the first-ever Cup Series stage at Iowa Speedway, it was Ryan Blaney who took the win. Blaney had to race hard with Kyle Larson at the start of the race. Then he let off and Larson drove by a bit.

Thanks to a caution flag and restart, Blaney was able to take the lead from Larson. The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion did not let the repaved track or tire issues worry him. He ran hard and it worked out for him.

Ryan Blaney would show resolve throughout the race. He was one of the three fastest drivers all day and it showed throughout the race.

Kyle Larson hits back in Stage 2

Ryan Blaney was great throughout the race, but so was Kyle Larson. At least, Larson was great while he was in the race. Larson would go on to have troubles later, but he looked like the class of the field early on.

Larson showed that he had the fastest car. He just had to stay out of trouble. For Stage 2, he did just that. Blaney led a ton of laps, but Larson was the one late who was able to win the stage. He came on strong and just never let up. Getting through traffic was no big deal.

While Blaney gave chase, he wasn’t able to catch up to Larson for the stage win. It was Larson’s 8th stage win of the season, he leads the Cup Series in that category.

Ryan Blaney gets it done at Iowa Speedway

Soon after the final stage started, the drivers were all jockeying for position. Before anyone could get comfortable, Kyle Larson was trying to take position ahead of Daniel Suárez. The 99 got a little loose and that’s when things fell apart.

Larson was turned toward the wall and ended up pinching Denny Hamlin into it in the process. It was a big hit for Larson and one that ended up more or less ending his day. The 5 car would return to the track but was more than 30 laps down.

Ryan Blaney had to work his way to get back to the front. The field was flipped due to a caution on green flag runs earlier in the race. By the time the final 80 laps came up, Blaney was in position to lead and did it with a bold two-tire stop beforehand.

Once Blaney got out front he was able to drive away. In the final 15 laps, William Byron made a strong push. He did not have enough time and ended up taking home P2 behind Blaney. First Cup race at Iowa in the books, and hopefully, it’s not the last.